Tag: Rock

Saturday Matinee – TUOOGB, Steppenwolf & Link Wray

I’m embarrassed to say that I never heard of The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain (TUOOGB) until recently, even though they’ve been around for a while. From their website:

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is a group of all-singing, all-strumming Ukulele players, using instruments bought with loose change, which believes that all genres of music are available for reinterpretation, as long as they are played on the Ukulele.

Great stuff. The world is your lobster if you have a bass ukulele.

Nice groove.
It’s a cover of Willie Dixons’ “Hoochie Coochie Man” by Steppenwolf at the Riverfront Festival in Louisville, KY, 7 October, 2000.

How ’bout some 1974 retro?

Link Wray played so dirty and nasty. No flourishes.
It was all in-your-face-deal-with-it-badass-rock the way it was always meant to be.

You still want toast?

Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here in a few hours.

 

Saturday Matinee – Live From NorWay, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Fishbone & The Allman Brothers Band

LIVE CAM: Train Engineer’s Cab View in Norway [click here for local time]. Not sure which line this is, where it’s headed, or if it’s running above the Arctic Circle. Check it out in full screen view and I’ll see you back here in a couple of days.

Someday, I suppose I’ll go to Norwegia and ride that train. Meanwhile, I’ll listen to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones from 1993.

Or maybe I’ll roll with Fishbone, one of the tightest ska/rock/funk bands I ever heard. Those guys won me over a long time ago. (Check out this 1987 live version. Sound quality sucks, but the energy is killer.)

Let’s turn it down a bit with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower.” The Allman Brothers Band in 2011 always found a nice groove (presumed band lineup here).

Have a great Easter/Passover/Seder weekend, folks. See you soon.

 

Shark Artistry

[Found here.]

Saturday Matinee – Elmore James Jr., The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, George Thorogood with Albert Collins & Elmore James

Not sure what to make of this. The son of one of the greatest blues guitarists ever appeared on a Chicago children’s TV show in 2010 and lip-synched his way through the embarrassment. In the YouTube comments, his grandaughter posted her kudos:

There are a lot of Utoobage entries for Elmore James, but I couldn’t find any live video performances, so let’s go with some covers, with links to the original recordings.

In 1972, The Allman Brothers Band covered “One Way Out” (1961).

In 1980, ZZ Top covered Elmore James’ Dust My Broom (1951) which was itself a cover of Robert Johnson’s recording (1936).

In 1984, George Thorogood & Albert Collins nailed Elmore James’ Madison Blues (1960).

Great stuff that. Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Bonus:

Saturday Matinee – Lindy Hop Showdown, The Wrecking Crew, Tommy Tedesco & The Memphis Group

Pure awesome. Girl in the stripes gets my vote [via].

“The Wrecking Crew” recorded some killer stuff, and you’ve likely never heard of them because they weren’t named  “The Wrecking Crew” until 1990. Their peak years were 1962-73 when they worked with Phil Spector. They weren’t a solid unit as the musicians came and went, but the music WAS solid, no matter who was sitting in at the time.

Tommy Tedesco, one of the greatest session musicians ever, was a member of the post-defacto-named Wrecking Crew. Tedesco was one of those rare people who, if told something was a musical instrument, could play it flawlessly.

Now about “The Memphis Group.” Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, Al Jackson & Booker Jones provided the backup for some amazing recording artists, but you already knew that.

Have a great weekend, folks and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Werewolf Diskdrive, Justin Johnson & Buckethead

I really don’t know what to make of this, but it somehow seems appropriate given the fires in California. Reminds me of early Devo vids. [h/t Bunkessa]

Justin Johnson amazes me. Plays lead, rhythm, bass and chorus at the same time on a 4-string cigar box slider. One of the commenters on the Utoobage posted “I’m convinced this guy is f***ing Buckethead,” and others agreed, so let’s roll with that.

“I was eating it, and I put the mask on and then the bucket on my head. I went to the mirror. I just said, ‘Buckethead. That’s Buckethead right there.’ It was just one of those things. After that, I wanted to be that thing all the time.” –Buckethead

Yeah, that’s a hella nice jam despite the silly visual gimmicks. Brian Carroll rocks.

Then here comes this guy.

Have a great weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for more stuff.

 

Saturday Matinee – Nate Smith, Justin Johnson & Ry Cooder

Nate Smith jams it. Betcha can’t spot the mistake.

Seems I heard Justin Johnson before, but only accidentally. Sure, it’s a compilation vid, but that there is some righteous awesome. Reminds me of this guy:

Ry Cooder took the slide guitar and shoved it right though my temporal lobes with his 1987 album “Get Rhythm.” It’s a must-have if you like Swamp Rock.

Have a great weekend, folks. See you tomorrow when the time is right.

Saturday Matinee – GoPro Gato, String Bean, The Blasters & Trombone Shorty

Guy fitted his cat with a GoPro to find out what it does while he’s away, and no, it doesn’t  sleep [via].

Ever hear of David “String Bean” Akeman? No? Here’s a documentary of the comic/iconic speed banjo player. Video starts at 06:00 for his rendition of the traditional folk song “Li’l Liza Jane. [Related post here.]

Akeman and his wife were murdered by burglars at their rural Tennessee home in 1973. The killers took only a chain saw and some firearms and were later apprehended and convicted.

The Blasters perform “Jubilee Train” at the 1985 Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois. (Check out the impressive list of performers at the link.)

“Buckjump” by Trombone Shorty – a nice retro-funk groove to wrap things up.

Have a great weekend, folks.

10 Popular Love Songs Inspired By Stephen King Horror Novels

Or not.

“Brazilian graphic designer and illustrator Butcher Billy got the idea of turning famous love hits into book covers of horror master Stephen King.”

[Found here via here.]

Saturday Matinee – Roy Clark with Buck Trent, The Bros. Landreth & The Reverend Peyton

Roy Clark played a hayseed on the long-running show HeeHaw. He had some serious chops on both guitar and banjo, and Buck Trent was no slouch either. Ignore the title of the vid and the mugging and be amazed.

The Bros. Landreth cranked some serous swamp rock with “Runaway Train” recorded 9 February 2015. Every country band should have a song about a runaway train in my opinion.

“We researched these dangerous Hollywood-style stunts and my best friend Jim Connor volunteered to let me set him on fire inside my house.” –Rev. Peyton.

Have a great weekend folks, and make sure that you eat or drink at least one thing that someone says is bad for you.